How to grow spruce from seeds: step-by-step instructions for gardeners
Cones are associated with childhood memories of probably every adult. Children today enjoy making crafts from pine cones for schools and kindergartens. Cones usually appear at home after a walk in the forest. And, after lying in the warmth, they open up and scatter their seeds. As a rule, the seeds are thrown away, but the question still arises: is it possible to grow spruce from seeds? Such an experiment can bring a lot of interesting things.
A living Christmas tree will forever solve the painful problem with the New Year's beauty
A ready-made exotic plant: not all lovers of indoor plants have a spruce tree at home, which will decorate the apartment and make the air healing, saturating it with a pine aroma.
Content:
- Is it possible to grow a Christmas tree from seeds?
- How and when to collect seeds
- How to plant seeds
- Seedling care
Is it possible to grow a Christmas tree from seeds?
Experts say that growing a spruce from a seed is a very realistic goal. Not every seed will grow into a green beauty: most cones from the forest end up in the house with immature seeds. The main thing is to adhere to some rules and recommendations.
Choosing a spruce variety
The origin of the seeds, their germination capacity and the choice of soil depend on the choice. For spruce lovers, there are varieties with different needles, shapes and colors. If the Christmas tree remains in the apartment, then you can choose dwarf varieties; ordinary and common spruce trees can grow from collected cones or seeds from the shop.Not all purchased seeds germinate, therefore, if you decide to grow a regular spruce or blue spruce (they also grow on the street, that is, the cones are freely available), then you can collect the seeds yourself.
When growing blue spruce from seeds, the result may not live up to expectations: decorative forms of blue spruce, when propagated by seeds, rarely retain their decorative properties. In addition, the plant acquires a clearly defined color in the 4-5th year of life, but with proper agricultural practices at home, the color will appear in the third year, but this is not guaranteed.
How and when to collect seeds
To collect seeds, it is better to take an unopened cone in early December. The best option is to collect cones in a city park, as they are better adapted after the winter snow melts. You need to know that young spruce trees may have empty cones, and experts recommend collecting several cones from different trees.
If the cones got into the house before December, then you need to wait until they open. You can speed up the process by placing the cones on the battery in some container so that the seeds do not scatter. To combat diseases, seeds brought from the street are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Purchased seeds also need to be treated with potassium permanganate.
In addition to disinfection, this procedure will strengthen the immunity of the future tree. Wet seeds must be thoroughly dried and then sent to stratification, that is, to create a winter effect for successful germination. Experts recommend different methods of stratification
Bring the snow in containers, put the seeds in it and put everything together in the freezer for a month
Calcinate the sand as a disinfectant, pour it into a box in a layer of 2-3 cm and put, or rather plant, seeds.Place the box on the refrigerator door.
In any case, stratification can be stopped already in February-March; it is at this time that the snow begins to melt, the soil is very moist and daylight hours increase. Seeds from cones brought in early February do not need stratification - they passed it naturally, but treatment with potassium permanganate is required.
How to plant seeds
Soil preparation
Seeds from the refrigerator can be planted in the same soil in which mature spruce trees grew, after calcining it in the oven for disinfection. Before planting, sprinkle with a weak solution of potassium permanganate for the same purpose and only then plant the seeds. To increase nutritional value, you can add a little peat to the soil or buy special soil for conifers. The most profitable option is to buy a ready-to-use mixture, but pouring it with a solution of potassium permanganate will still not hurt.
Seed preparation
Seeds before landing soak for three days in warm water until swelling (you can add a root formation stimulator according to the instructions). You need to choose a large pot right away - the roots need freedom and the moisture in the soil will stay longer. This is very important: after all, in nature in the spring the snow melts and the ground becomes saturated with moisture.
It is necessary to put drainage at the bottom of the pot, and the prepared soil is poured on top and watered with a solution of potassium permanganate. Then the seeds are laid out on the surface and sprinkled with a thin layer of soil. In order not to wash away the crops, it is convenient to irrigate the surface with a warm solution of potassium permanganate or water from a spray bottle. The pot with the sowing is covered with film, and it is better to place it on the windowsill: the battery is nearby and the sun is nearby.
If after two weeks nothing has sprouted, do not be upset: spruce seeds take a very long time to germinate, you need to be patient. Sometimes two weeks are enough, sometimes months pass by waiting. If the spruce is planted in open ground, then the seeds should be planted at intervals of one and a half to two meters in February.
They are also stratified, soaked for swelling and then sown on the surface. There is no need to remove fallen snow. You can sow the seeds in a very large and deep container (barrel or tub) and leave them outside, burying them in the ground to the brim.
Seedling care
The first sprouts were very tender. And they are easily susceptible to the “black leg” disease - it is well known to both gardeners and lovers of indoor floriculture. Therefore, after the appearance of inputs watering stops, it will be enough to periodically spray with lukewarm water from a spray bottle. Temperature changes during the cold season will be beneficial for seedlings; direct sunlight should be avoided.
A healthy sprouted spruce seed is characterized by a straight white stem and a seed coat, with which it appears on the surface. Then the stem changes color depending on the illumination of the location of the pot: green with a crimson tint in good light or pale green with a brown tint in poor light. Among all the shoots, it is advisable to immediately get rid of the weak ones, those with a bent stem and other defects.
After the first needle leaves appear, the young shoots can be fertilized with special fertilizers for coniferous plants.
Young spruce sprouts do not react well to the dry and warm air of apartments, so after the onset of heat it is better to take them out to a loggia or a warm balcony, or in case of frost, bring them into the house.The best temperature for them is 15 degrees above zero. We must not forget that direct sunlight has a detrimental effect on branches. Deforming them can lead to the death of the plant. At growing If you are spruce in open ground, you must remember that the tree grows extremely slowly in the first years.
In the warm season, it should be regularly watered and mulched. In the first and second winters after germination, young trees are insulated by pouring a layer of peat on the tree trunk. Older trees do not require insulation. Growing spruce from seeds is a troublesome, but rewarding task. And it brings results that are pleasant in all respects.
Video about proper planting of spruce:
